


On the Way Down the Mountain

by Truthfully



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Elsanna - Freeform, F/F, werewolf!anna
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-07-21 23:51:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7410088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Truthfully/pseuds/Truthfully
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna was a werewolf of the North Mountain, Elsa of Arendelle was a princess. It was a match that could only work in stories. Too bad this wasn’t a fairy tale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hunting Trip

The North Mountain was known for three things; the cold, its height and the wolves that made their home there. Being a mountain that only hosted hermits and the most hardy of folks it had quite a few legends and folktales about the place.

Anna only knew a few of them, and of those the only one that really interested her was the truth; that among the packs of wolves there were werewolves. The way the natives told it there were dozens of them. If that part of it was true Anna would have been ecstatic. But, there were only three werewolves she knew, counting herself with a grandmother and her father. And she had tried each summer to scour the mountain side looking for any others. 

It wasn’t right to say that she was always lonely. Winters were spent together in a small house in the most isolated village. With games, laughter and just togetherness.Then during the summer months her family was only a howl away with the promise of winter to see them again.

Still she hated being alone, it was the worst thing she could think of. Even being sick was preferable so long as there was somebody there with her. They didn’t even have to be sympathetic, just there. But Baba was too old to hunt on her own and her father needed to work hard the summer months chopping wood and tracking furs to trade for the goods they couldn’t make themselves. So she cared for Baba and scoured the mountainside for those dozens of werewolves.

For all that she hated it, Anna was awfully used to being lonely. During the longer hunting trips she had a whole slew of things she did to entertain herself. From exploring to staying up late to stare at the stars.

It was during one of those trips that her life changed.

The late spring day had started simple enough with a surprise. It had snowed sometime in the night, leaving a thick layer of snow. It would make the day miserable and travel difficult. Still, her and Baba had to eat so she tried to find the deer’s trail again.

By the time she had found deer tracks she had gone further than she should have. Close to the base of the mountain when the wind shifted, sending the stench of blood and decay up her nose bad enough to make her stop and gasp. Normally she’d avoid such things, leave them to the bears. But the smell had soot and burnt flesh with it as well.

At first she had thought some hermit or mountain family had been caught in a fire. Angling herself she picked up her pace, they would need assistance and if all had died they deserved a proper burial. No matter how much that would turn her stomach.

Everything changed when she came upon the only road. Instead of continuing across to try and pick the scent back up again, she only stared at it. There was a carriage, broken and left behind. There were signs of fighting but most of the bodies were left to rot in the sun. That however was only the half of it. Some of the bodies were hanging off spikes of ice. All of it was buried in snow, the spikes being the most visible signs.

It had happened sometime late last night or early this morning. Ambush by bandits, what with the state of the attackers and what looked like royal livery on one of the ones on the carriage she could see. Speaking of, the carriage bore the mark of the Arendale royals. Something she recognized from the coins her father hoarded against the winter months.

Cautiously she walked onto the road, and looked for survivors. The dead could wait, the living could not.


	2. Rescue By Wolf

Anna hated digging graves. It was a sad chore and with no survivors there were many and all of them would be nameless. There were 12 in total, ranging from a maid to an older gentleman that had been caught unawares. She had been conflicted about either leaving the bandits to rot or at least giving them some form of burial. In the end she decided on individual graves for the victims and a mass grave for their attackers. Without a shovel or other tool she had transformed instead.

Honestly she liked being a wolf, but wolves didn’t have mouths they could talk with. That and wolves normally caused a ruckus when they appeared in human villages. It was cold as she shucked her clothes, taking the time and effort to fold each garment despite freezing. It would be easier later to pull them out of her bag nice and clean instead of stashing them under a bush or something. 

Even with the cold it took her a minute to psyche herself up. It hurt to transform. Much like breaking bones and straining muscles as they shifted themselves to new formations. You only lost your nerves halfway through and even then they were the first thing you got back as everything started to settle. 

Like most painful things it was best to get it over with quick. So instead of letting it happen naturally like her Baba would, she forced it to quicken. The pain was hot, enough to drive the cold right out of her system as she hit the ground, already howling. 

In a few minutes it was done, the eerie snapping and cracking fading away as her fur grew to cover her new body. It took her barely a few minutes to shake away the last of the aches. There was work to be done and again, it would be best to have it done quick. Even with paws it would still take hours, if not a day.

She hadn’t even finished digging through the permafrost when she heard the scream. Loud and shrill rocketing through the afternoon light.

It was a woman’s voice and she was terrified. Stopping Anna perked her ears toward the forest, taking a few steps. There it was again. Leaving behind the bodies she charged into the underbrush. The screams were met with the sound of angry men. Anna only sped up, losing most of her natural grace as she powered through the brush and tree growth.

Her bursting out of the forest into a clearing must have been an interesting sight. Anna was at least a hundred and sixty pounds and made for a large red monstrosity when she was angry. The way her fur stood on end made her a size or two even larger. The two men had taken only one look at her before they started to retreat, unable to decide to attack or flee.

When she bared her teeth and snarled, puffing up her fur and walking as stiffly as she could between them and their victim, they decided it best to disappear into the trees. Anna snarled until she couldn’t see them, taking her time as she circled the clearing, daring them to enter again.

The woman herself she ignored for now. At least until it grew too cold for her to ignore. If she felt this cold with a fur coat how must the poor dear feel? Anna slowly stopped her circuit and laid down, trying to appear as harmless as a previously vicious dire wolf could. The sight of the woman however took her breath away.

She was tall, even slumped as she was. Her clothes were of fine make, matching the livery of the royal attendants she had seen at the road, if a bit mangled. The wolf had almost puffed in anger again until she noticed that they had the look of badly treated traveling gear instead of torn clothing. The blonde hair was just as badly kept, looking like the remains of some prim and proper updo that had been attacked by twigs and leaves. Her eyes were wide and blue and she looked so so afraid of Anna.

The woman was scared and Anna didn’t know what she could do to relieve it.

But it was cold and this woman was shivering. So Anna stayed crouched and crawled the best she could on her belly, reaching out with a nose. As she approached the woman seemed to deflate, to give in to some dark despair and just watch as she came in. It was heartbreaking to see someone reduced to such a state. When she reached the woman’s side she gently whuffed, using her nose to push against cold skin as her tail wagged.

There were a few minutes, a staring contest that Anna was sure to lose before the woman plopped to the ground. Anna just nudged a hand again, whining.

The hand reached out, hesitated and ran it’s way down her neck, starting just between her ears and stopping at her shoulders. Leaning into the touch seemed to be the right thing, as the woman relaxed as well, one arm wrapping around her in a hug. Tears bursting out as Anna supported her.

Despite living with humans during the majority of winter and spring with those few days in summer, Anna never really interacted much with them. Namely because they considered each of her family odd and Anna had never quite been forgiven for biting the headman’s son when she was nine. This made it hard for her to make friends, and crying was rare in the village, much less in the house of a pack of werewolves.

Being currently a wolf did nothing to help matters as Anna awkwardly tried to return the hug with her neck. Eventually though the woman stopped crying and just lay tired against her.

The woman fell asleep, her tears freezing on Anna’s red coat. She waited several minutes before curling the best she could around the woman. She wished she had her bag, then she could have at least covered the woman up with some proper furs. But the dangers of the forest night and the cold were too much to risk even a quick run back to the road for it. 

So a cold dreary fitful night of sleep it was.

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to get off my rear and start putting some of my tumblr works up on here. Sadly since they were written for that format the chapters will be awfully short and to the point. But maybe I could expand it once I get it all written done. Who knows?
> 
> For those interested a-kind-of-truth is the handle to look for.


End file.
